Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo I've lived in Colorado for 19 years now.

And the mountains and the river.

And the clean water.

Just constantly finding beautiful places to be inspired.

Getting ready for Telluride is getting my cello and my musical saw and my washboard and my stomp box and my jembe and the jembe stand and the washboard gloves and everything.

A big part of my preparation is making sure I have all the instruments.

And then what a beautiful drive, like it's just gorgeous.

Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo After winding down along the river and through all these canyons and valleys and then you come to the town of Telluride and see that it's just so beautiful.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Like feathers in the breeze what I see The sunlight shining in an old store Well I've been dancing underneath the moon Perhaps the running trial we're on Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo The Telluride Bluegrass Festival has a feeling of like family.

There's also a sense of, like, reunion with all these people that see each other every year there.

I just love hearing what people can do on acoustic instruments in so many different ways.

There's always, you know, the cutting edge like, and bands that are pushing the boundaries and then it's just a sweet time to kind of ground and connect with each other.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ So fun!

Now I remember it.

Haha!

I'm getting in the middle of this sammie.

I'm Bonnie Payne from Elephant Revival And I'm here to play Telluride Bluegrass Festival.

We're playing 8:30 right after the full moon rise tonight on the main stage.

I forgot about that.

You were talking about Strawberry Moon?

Yeah, yeah.

Strawberry full moon.

Ladies and gentlemen, the one and the only Elephant Revival.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Hello you who moves with me in a dance.

Hello you who moves me like the sea.

Hello you who shows me what our fears are made of, Who love me Love loves me just to be.

Who love me Love loves me just to be.

Who love me Love loves me just to be.

♪ ♪ I'll hold you, hold me closely.

[vocalizing] All that I can give you, know I want to.

All I have to offer, it's all for you.

I'll hold you, hold me closely.

[vocalizing] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Goodbye to those starless skies, empty eyed, sorrow cries, “no not goodbye.” Hello to the dawning of the star inside our turning around, Your sunshine eyes.

I love you Love love you just to be.

I love you Love love you just to be.

I love you Love love you just to be.

Thank you.

I mean, I've always loved making music.

My mom just sang around the house all the time, so it wasn't - I didn't think of it in terms of, like, an occupation, I guess.

Really?

In fact, I was such a shy kiddo, like, a lot of people are, that that seemed like absolutely impossible to even fathom that as, like a, you're going to sing in front of people.

And my mom even got my chart read when I was 12, and it was like, most likely will be a singer.

And I was like, oh my God, this thing is so far off.

Like, I'll never do that in front of people.

I always knew I wanted to play music, and my sisters and I all played drums when I was little.

And then we formed a little band, I think when I was five, I started playing kit and um then we became a backup band for this guy, Randy Crouch, and started playing shows with him.

And like at first it was kind of like a surprise finale, like, we're going to get these little girls up here to take over the instruments and see what happens.

And then we became kind of part of his band.

And then one night after the show, he gave me money and I was like, where is this from?

And I had no idea that it was even that it could be considered an occupation.

I thought that we paid to play music at this venue.

I thought we, like, rented it or something.

So that was like, oh, wow.

People, like, pay you to make music.

That's amazing.

That was the first time I conceptualized it as an occupation.

But I still didn't sing at that point.

I was just percussion and I played electric guitar.

First one would be “What Does Wonder” and that's a new song that we've been working on.

I was thinking about what does what wonders about what wonders about what wonders like, I like fractal thoughts like that that can just go one inside the other, so it's kind of an endless question.

And just like wondering about the part of ourselves that's able to wonder and what it continually evolves into.

Wait for it.

I wonder about The stuff that will become of what does wonder about ♪ ♪ If all we've been And all that we will ever be Will be we'll be The turning of One thing into the next End to beginning.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ In calling out A part of what we're made of Is heard by calling out From what we've been Out into what will be will be We'll be we'll be The turning of One thing into the next End to beginning ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Thank you.

When I first started performing cello, I was like, I would get, like, almost frozen with fear about that because that - it's amazing how much of being able to do something is in your head the way you see it as possible.

That was terrifying when I started performing cello with the band, which wasn't that long ago because it was always just like such a private like, this is my little like treat to myself that I do.

And then I would write the songs on that and then share them with the band, and then I'd hop on percussion.

So and the first time I played the cello, was at Red Rocks.

It was our first time to headline Red Rocks, so it was just - I've always had these moments where I just, like, go and challenge myself all on, it feels like.

And then that felt like a a big, a huge step and was terrifying.

So that's one for sure.

And then the cello pick up quit working and it was just insane.

But it was fun.

The Pasture maybe.

Okay.

It's a song that Dango wrote on the mandolin and it just makes everybody so happy when we play it.

It's an instrumental piece and I just love the feeling of it and how everybody lights up and just like with such subtlety and then for it to grow with everybody.

I get a lot of melodies from my surroundings and then find the words that fit with those melodies.

So yeah.

Cool.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Here we go.

I've seen the furthest of the shore, I felt the deepest of the sea, Carried away that fateful day, My mother calling after me.

Heard my mother calling after me.

♪ ♪ The rope released when lightning shone from all that I had ever known.

Out on the waters one alone.

Oh how the waters they had grown Oh how the waters they had grown ♪ ♪ The night it faded into day, The sky and sea seemed without end.

For loving mother I did pray, I heard her strength inside the wind.

I heard her strength inside the wind.

♪ ♪ And with the wind there came a ship like nothing I had ever seen, ‘Cept for the lady carved on the bow, Like my mother so she seemed.

And the faces they were many, Smooth and dark with eyes that showed.

They'd take me in and care for me and raise me as though I's their own.

and raise me as though I's their own.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I've heard the furthest of the shore, I've felt the deepest of the sea.

Seems everywhere I go is there, The songs my mother sang to me.

“Deeper than the sea.” Um Remembering A Beginning.

And so that was just, partly inspired by thinking about, like, this idea of, like, oh, if I could touch the sky, but you're always touching the sky because it's in the air all around you, and, like, just kind of like contemplating the barrier of our planet to the rest of space and, just recognizing that it's all everything is just also always around us.

And we're breathing it in and breathing it out and becoming part of it and releasing it.

I think it's like at the root of most disharmony is a kind of forgetting that you are inextricably part of everything else, you know.

And if we could remember that, and just make that like a, you know, have reminders of that, I think it helps you want to be a better part of that thing.

You know, I think it could help a lot, maybe all conflicts if we really conceptualize, like how how much of, you know, we're all a part of the same thing that just seems to be looking in on itself, I think, and just to have like a sense of reverence for that, for other people's perspective into that same thing.

It's just like it's kind of fascinating.

Like even look at like another animal and you're like, wow, that's like another vantage point into this thing that we're a part of and, and out of to, you know, at the same time, it's pretty cool.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Out on the road, endless fields grow Where no one knows But everybody's wondering Where does it go, the wind that blows Where from does it come How everybody's wondering ♪ ♪ Alone she cries, let me be inside The ocean tide Remembering a beginning When the water climbed, up the mountainside Deep and open wide Remembering a beginning ♪ ♪ There's a fire burning, in the middle of this turning Wild and yearning For everything, for everything Remains inside, these changing skies Through waves in time Remembering ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ The way to home, how the sparrow knows Through the days they've flown How everybody's wondering What has seen these skies, below, up high What the skies have seen Remembering a beginning ♪ ♪ Thank you.

How would I encourage somebody to take risks with art?

Maybe with whatever their passion is?

For me, I found a lot of like I don't know if courage is the word because that as you're like, it's whenever you're assuming that there's something that you have to come up against and I kind of dissolve that feeling just by realizing, like, you know, everybody out there, gosh, there's so many things I could say.

The way that we decide what we're capable of is such a subtle thing.

You know, it's like, we're constantly in dialogue with ourselves and whenever we approach something, there's like an initial reaction of “I can or I can't do that.” And just to keep like exercising this, like “I can do that” like, if anybody can do it, you can do it.

There's nothing more special about any other person that is - they're not like a separate thing, which is a little scary in pop culture sometimes, is because they kind of idolize and separate people when they have talents, as if they're this other thing.

And so it can make a lot of people be like, “oh i'm not that,” but I think we all are and just recognizing that, you know, artistic expression is accessible to everyone.

And then as far as the performing, that talent aspect goes, like everybody in the audience is just there to experience, you know, something to be a part of it.

I'll imagine like this wheel of light kind of thing that's like, circulating between the stage and the audience.

It keeps you from feeling like you're in a spotlight, too, which is kind of overbearing- feels like it can make a person really nervous, but the circle is, like, actually out between the performers and the audience.

And there's this kind of collaboration of it growing and growing and I imagine this like, light getting bigger and bigger, and I can feel people respond to it when I'll imagine it like, just like light up all of a sudden, all this whoa.

Like, it really feels like, a collaboration with the audience constantly.

That takes a lot of the fear out of it if fear is what's holding you back or a distraction, then social media can be a little distracting, like just in moderation if you're going to use it so that - like me and my sisters all we had were our instruments most of the time, and we were way out in the woods too, we were kind of lucky because now at the time, I didn't feel lucky.

But that was our way of, you know, interacting and entertainment and stuff.

And it was like a treat to us, you know, keeping it fun, too, like, don't make your passion into some kind of arduous thing, like keeping it fun by like, keeping it alive and weaving in what's present now for you and just noticing what lights you up.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Alright Telluride!

Come on!

We're so thrilled to be back.

So glad you're here.

Let Bonnie get her gloves on.

What an inspiring day of music, listening to all those guys playing earlier, Leftover Salmon and As We Speak, AJ Lee.

It's too many.

It's so much good stuff here.

Thanks so much everybody.

It's called Sea Monster.

I'm going out over the sea, I've got a boat, I've got a dream.

I trim the sails with my own hands leave all my thought back on the land.

I'm going out over the sea, I won't be back until I'm free.

I hear a voice, a siren's review, I hear it calling out of the blue.

A song of a strange unbearable thing, it grows in the water, it goes unseen.

I'm going out over the sea, hearing the song I've come to see.

What is this monster in the gyre?

All that's thrown over the side, And I want to know' How we live in a world that provides and expires, How we grow, come to know our hearts desire.

I'm going out over the sea, All I have heard, all I have seen, We are all out, out in a dream, We are a boat, we are the sea.

After all the rise and fall is all that still remains.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ The new song that we're working on might be more interesting to talk about.

I'm realizing, because you caught part of the birth of it, which is kind of fun.

And then we'll perform it.

We just performed it for our first time the day before yesterday.

Eyes wide High tide Careful not to get pulled under The current of mind Know your pulse through crashing thunder So the song is called All Sides.

It's got this kind of like Middle Eastern tonality, like really danceable, fun melody.

Dango has this clawhammer style thing that he does sometimes that I really like.

So I was really inspired by that.

And then I was thinking about, like conflict all over the world and how one group of people will get against the other group of people and all kinds of just, you know, hundreds of years of wars can go on and on with this failure to recognize that you both really want the same thing.

And so the lyrics that's mostly what they're about is just like recognizing, trying to see all sides of it because we end up just getting caught up.

There's a few differences, in every human and we fixate on what those differences are instead of realizing, like, we all want to have safe children and happy lives and healthy food and clean air.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Eyes wide High tide Careful not to get pulled under The current of mind Know your pulse through crashing thunder Ooo Ooo Have you made Your mind?

All your thoughts of fear and conquer Your eye For mine Will blind how we are of each other Ooo Ooo ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Your God Their God My God what have we done in their name I fall You fall We rise to see we are of the same We rise to see we are of the same Ooo Ooo Thank you We got some very, very special guests we're going to call up here.

We're going to bring out Brittany Haas to play some fiddle with us.

One more time, Miss Brittany Haas!

Thank you so much for being here.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Miss Brittany Haas on the fiddle So in 100 years, when we're all dust, Yeah.

And somebody picks up their whatever people play music on in 100 years - Right.

and they hear an Elephant Revival song, what do you hope they feel?

It's a big question.

You're good.

Yeah, that's a good question.

Yeah, I think I would hope it would remind them of this or like help them have a sense of it and be like, a bridge to that or something like a reminder of the tapestry of nature that we're interwoven and that we're, you know, I see this like sub reality layer of technology being woven that's beautiful and full of potential.

And but right now, it doesn't feel like it's weaving in with what feels like what is actually going on sometimes.

And so I worry about that differentiation and getting further and further and people kind of living in a virtual reality almost, or, or a two dimensional kind of binary reality that's polarized the way that we talked about, like a binary system kind of is like you're either you are or you aren't.

So I would hope, you know, if it's needed, that it would bring a reminder of just being part of all of this.

We love all of you so much.

Thank you for being here.

See there down at the liquor store Gone to drink those troubles in some more Down at the old Rogue River That old Rogue River Down at the old Rogue River That old Rogue River You were daddy's sunshine days He left, left for good went down to his grave Mother Mary full of grace won't you Watch these children in my place I'm going under the river That old Rogue River I'm going under the river That old Rogue River Seemed that nothing could be said but sung There's a fire in the little ones Lord and it burns hot Lord and it burns bright To believe in angels loving ligh Watching over her and sisters too Mama and Papa gone angels will have to do for now Lord have mercy in my dying days There's been too much leaving There's been too much pain Left my babies in the cold Now my heart it aches I've been growing old Feel it rise up into my throat Lay these troubles down Lift my soul Pray forgiveness Let me go Pray my children and their children know not to do what I have done.

But let go Lay these troubles down.

Lift my soul, lift my soul.

Lift my soul.

♪ ♪ Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child A long, long way from home.

[vocalizing] Clap your hands.

Clap your hands.

Clap your hands.

Clap your hand.

Yeah!

Clap your hands.

Freedom.

Freedom.

Freedom.

Freedom.

Freedom.

Freedom.

Freedom.

Yeah.

Freedom.

Lift up and over the river.

That old Rouge River Lift up and over the river.

That old Rouge River Thank you so much!

[cheers and applause] [indistinct conversation]